There are many types of hitches that permit a towing vehicle to be connected to a towed vehicle. A representative hitch that uses a male ball on the towing vehicle and a female socket on the towed vehicle will be discussed herein.
Mating the ball and the socket is very time consuming because the driver cannot see the ball and socket when trying to properly position them. The rear view mirror of the towing vehicle by itself is useless as the driver cannot see the hitch with it. It is not unusual for the driver to get out of the towing vehicle, walk back to the rear of the towing vehicle to see if the ball and socket are properly positioned, walk back to the towing vehicle, move the towing vehicle and walk back to the rear of the towing vehicle to see if the ball and socket are properly positioned two, three or four times before they are properly positioned.
Even if a second person is available to give directions to the driver, hitching is still difficult because of problems with communication, the time lag resulting from the towing vehicle being in motion during positioning (which can result in the overshooting the socket) and the need for prior coordination between the driver and the second person relating to the directions whether they be communicated verbally or by hand signals.
Mirrors are known to assist the driver in positioning the ball and socket. Alignment of the mirror to view the hitch is accomplished by gross adjustments such as by loosening the mirror from a bracket and rotating the mirror by hand. Gross adjustment often results in the driver tilting the mirror too far in one direction and then the other until the mirror is properly aligned. There is no fine control over the alignment of the mirror. Gross adjustment is very time consuming and frustrates the driver. The mirror must be adjusted depending upon where the mirror is affixed and the height of the driver. Thus, when the driver changes or the mirror is repositioned, the time consuming process must be repeated.
Some mirrors are not affixed to the towing vehicle but rather are affixed to the towed vehicle. This arrangement forces a driver having more than one towed vehicle to either purchase a separate mirror for each towed vehicle or move the mirror from one towed vehicle to another and adjust the mirror each time it is moved. Neither of these options is desirable.
Other shortcomings of various mirror designs that interfere with viewing of the hitch include curved mirrors that distort the view, mirrors made of glass that can break and mirrors that are exposed to precipitation that can obstruct the view.
Many existing mirrors are not positioned over the hitch which makes proper positioning of the ball and socket more difficult because the view of the driver does not represent the true position of the ball and socket.
A hitching mirror that is incrementally adjustable to readily permit the driver to adjust the position of the mirror to enable viewing of the hitch and that attaches to a rear window of a towing vehicle is desirable.